- Commodore Free

Transcription

- Commodore Free

A free to download Magazine dedicated to Commodore computers.
Issue 74
www.commodorefree.com
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
PAGE 3
Commodore Free E-Cover Tape #7
PAGE 6
Readers Comments
PAGE 10
NEWS
General
Page 11
NEWS
Commodore 64
Page 14
NEWS
VIC 20
Page 16
NEWS
AMIGA
Page 19
COMMODORE 64 MOON MISSION
GAME REVIEW
Page 23
COMMODORE FREE REVIEW OF
THEATER OF WAR
FOR THE UNEXPANDED VIC 20
Page 24
COMMODORE FREE INTERVIEW WITH
GHISLAIN DE BLOIS
VIC PROGRAMMER AND BLOGGER
Page 33
A TOTALLY INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF
THE VIC COMPUTER
BY COMMODORE FREE
Page 38
Commodore Free Magazine
Page 2
Editorial
Hurray! The tapes have returned, and the magazine has
slipped or lapsed an issue! So after a brief holiday Richard is
now back with his Free covertapes, is it just me; or has anyone else missed this feature of the magazine?
Well I know it’s not just me; and judging by the number of
emails I received asking where have they gone!, also while
on the subject “yes” we would love TAP files for the VIC, PET
and even the c16/plus4 machines, you need to send these in
to either myself or to Richard with some explanation about
the included program; and if needed instructions on how to
play and or use it, you must ensure they are copyright
cleared or public domain as I don’t want any nasty emails
again.
and or compact cassette carrying player manufacturer, anyway I would have less issue space for the magazine
(editor jumps off his chair, and shouts Tallyho) in some
vain effort to pretend he has bailed out, other member of
the team look him over, presuming him mad and then ignore him!
Editor laughs and gets up, wondering why everyone is ignoring him
Thanks for reading
Nigel
Editor Commodore Free
For the people who wanted a Vic 20 issue
well it’s not quite there; but this issue is very Vic influenced
issue, with an “almost complete history” of the machine (I
say almost; so this gets me out of trouble, I know Vic users
are very passionate and just in case I missed something that
was important. On that subject; If you feel I have missed an
important VIC related event; please write in and let me
know!) We have an interview with a VIC programmer
called Ghislain de Blois and look at his latest game release,
Vic followers will be well aware of his work. Speaking of his
work, his current games compilation is on sale via the
Psytronik website, you will see a news section for the game
also under the Vic news. hey it’s all free advertising for the
Vic!
Doing the splits
Speaking of news; how do you like the news split into sections for the C64 Vic plus4 etc. do you prefer this rather
than just a jumbled mess of news, personally I actually liked
the jumbled mess of news, mainly as it meant I didn’t have
to work as hard separating it all out! Still I have had quite a
few comments and suggestion on the separation of news to
machine specific topics; so is it better this way, what do you
think?
LOST GAME
We have a readers comment, most are not printable; but this
one is a plea for help to locate a game, if you can help out
with locating a copy then contact my good self and I will relay any messages to the reader, who is also a friend of mine!
So although not a Vic dedicated issue it is I hope you agree
very Vic specific issue, I did ask various websites for VIC and
other commodore specific items but sadly received nothing
back from them.
The news section celebrates 30 years of MIDI and 50 years
of the audio TAPE, love it or hate it without tape we
wouldn’t have had Walkmans (other personal tape players
were available at the time) and without walkmans we
wouldn’t have had iPods, well maybe anyway, and I am still
not sure that’s a good or bad thing !.....
I Think now sounds like a good time to bail out and leave
you to read the issue, heck if I carry on with this I may get
lynched by some supporter or hater of some or other format
Page 3
LOADING … PLEASE WAIT
Commodore Free E-Cover Tape #7
By Richard Bayliss
FEAST YOUR EYES ON THESE BEAUTIES:
1. PLAYABLE DEMO
3. FULL GAMES
2. EXCITING UTILITIES
Did you miss us the last two issues? I may have guessed you
probably did miss us. Unfortunately, it just couldn't be
helped. Good news however is that the favourite part of the
magazine is back. The E-COVER TAPE.
the 2013 SEUCK Compo. There is also a funny remake of a
classic. You can even try out an excellent playable demo of an
upcoming game by Psytronik Software, which we had kind
permission to host on this E-Covertape. Finally a classic PD
graphics tool, and to round off the tape. Something extra
This issue we have a couple of fun Sideways SEUCK games, special for you, from me. Lock in and load :)
one of which was written by Alf Yngve. The other which won
Vice Squad Demo
(C)2013 Psytronik Software
Programming: Achim Volkers
Graphics: Trevor Storey
Music: Linus / Viruz
This is a 1 level playable preview, in which will give you a
taster of what it is like to be in an ultimate car chase. You are
an undercover cop, who has been assigned by the Vice Squad
to patrol the roads from the criminal gangs that think they
rule it. Strap yourself in for a real bumpy ride
Using a joystick plugged into port 2, Your mission is to smash
into or blast away black vehicles which are being driven by
members of criminal gangs. You have a certain quota to shoot
down before you can complete your mission. Since this mission is a fast paced mission try not to smash into the edges of
the road, trees or buildings, otherwise your car will be wasted. Your car can be replaced, but if you smash too many of
those, then you'll have to suffer the consequences.
Vice Squad should soon be available from Psytronik Software
at http://www.psytronik.net as soon as the game has finished.
LOADER GAME TAPE MASTER KIT
(C)2013 Commodore Free, The New Dimension
Programming: Richard Bayliss, Martin Piper
Graphics: Richard Bayliss, Johan Janssen
Music: Richard Bayliss
tem this program will not work on BASIC programs. That
means you will need to type in some code to initialize BASIC
and kill loader parameters or just freeze your game with an
Action replay cartridge. Programs must originally load at
$0801. The loader system itself will relocate it.
To round up this issue's E-Cover tape comes an exclusive new
utility called the Loader Game Tape Master Kit. This is a
simple program that allows you to master your tapes using a
high speed turbo tape loader. Also loads the games to tape
using one of my two loader games which were used many
times on TND games and contributor's releases. Moo-Tilation and Happy Blocks. With additional features which no
other loader game had. You can still play the game after the
program has loaded.
How to use:
The program is pretty much simple to use. Press spacebar on
the TND intro to enter the program selector Pick one of the
two loader games in which you wish to use on your game.
Enter the file name for your game and parameters such as
jump address, etc. Then start mastering. Make sure your disk
file name isn't over 135 blocks else the tool won't work
properly. Due to the compatibility issues of this loader sys-
If you use crunchers or any programs which use SYS 2061 as
the SYS address after loading (Most programs today use
Exomizer) then use $080D as jump address for your program.
Have
fun
tape
with
your
mastering :)
Page 6
Night Raid
you into a cell. Unknown to the terrorists you were wearing
(C)2013 Alf Yngve
a tracker. So the allied forces sent in one of their best helicopProgramming: Alf Yngve (Using Sideways SEUCK), Rich- ters. Checked the radar signal, shot the guard from outside
ard Bayliss (Enhancements)
your cell. One of the marines arms a bazooka and blasts the
Graphics: Alf Yngve
cell in which you are free. You arm yourself with the guard's
rife with plenty of bullets and set off on a dangerous mission
The NIGHT RAID.
Using a joystick in either port, you are the escaped captive,
who is out to get revenge on the terrorists. Your mission is to
raid their camps, and shoot anything that moves on sight.
Watch out though the enemy forces never give up and are
most definitely on the watch out for escapes. This game is
split into two parts.
Part 1 – The ground battle
After the helicopter above broke you out of the cells. You
plan a revenge attack on the terrorists. Simply by sneaking
past them and blasting them with your rifle. Unfortunately
the terrorists have backup and are keeping watch of your
every step so you must shoot your way to freedom. To help
gain stamina, pick up medical packs the more you pick up,
the more likely you'll get an extra life back. As soon as you
escape from the enemy camp it is time to enter the helicopter
and get the heck out of that awful prison camp.
From Alf Yngve, comes this stunning action packed game
inspired by some classic combat games, such as Green Beret,
Gryzor, etc. Although this is not a run and jump game. The
game also features combat style music on the front end. Also
two player control and scoring has been bolted together to
one game which saves you having to change your joystick Part 2 – The air battle
You escape into the helicopter but find that you are being
port to play each part.
watched. So armed with bullets you must shoot the enemies
The story so far:
airborne and grounded to avoid getting recaptured. If you
A group of rogue marines are planning to set a big act of make your escape from the air battle you will make it back to
terrorism on to your own territory and city. After the alert, your HQ, where the rest of the allied forces will destroy the
civilians just got escorted out of their homes and sent into terrorist base, and you get back to your family.
prison camps. The terrorists also captured you and threw Good luck soldier!
Sheer Earth Attack
2)
The Asteroid Belt: an area full of flying rocks which
(C)2013 Gaetano Chiummo
can be shot or avoided. The most dangerous enemies here
Programming: Gaetano Chiummo (Using Sideways are some fast flying ships, which can easily dodge the rocks,
SEUCK), Richard Bayliss (Enhancements)
aiming at your ship!
Graphics: Gaetano Chiummo
3)
The Bubbles' Belt: Bubbles can be dangerous! Just
Music: Gaetano Chiummo
destroy them before they start bursting... There are also
The second of two sideways SEUCK game creations comes a some tough alien ships flying across this area.
game with won the 2013 SEUCK Competition and also this 4)
The Ruins: in this small abandoned planet many
version features the ultimate prize, a brand new front end, In space-birds built their nests and they will not let you pass so
game enhancements and much more. Making this game feel easily... You must also destroy the rocks that block your way.
commercial release although it isn't. In game graphics are
5)
The Aliens' Base: this military zone is filled with the
really nice and the loading picture is sweet.
best aliens' weaponry from cannons to space-fighters! At the
It is the year 2261. According to the prophecy the Earth is end of this stage you'll find the result of their experiments a
going to be destroyed! The prophet didn't give many details new source of energy which could be used to destroy the
except that the menace will arrive from the sky. The scien- universe... but are we sure it would? Anyway your task is to
tists are gazing at the stars but the army has its eyes on a destroy it... so, good luck!
civilized alien race which has started studying a new source
of energy. They never threatened the Earth nor any other
civilized planet around but what if this new energy has the
power to rule the universe? So, the army's sending a space
ship (along with a rotating combat module) out to space to
seek and destroy this mysterious weapon. And, guess what!,
the pilot is YOU!
You must fly through five zones:
1)
Deep Space: this area is very easy to conquer; just
beware of the yellow ships: they can fire at you!
Page 7
Bionik Granny Returns
(C)2010 The New Dimension
Programming: Richard Bayliss
Graphics: Richard Bayliss, Johan Janssen, Kenz
passers before a coin appears as soon as 5 coins have been
collected you have a mystery bonus stage to play. Can you
help an old lady cross the busy road safely and collect your
pension. If granny enters the post office and picks up her
pension a bonus will be rewarded, If however you let granny
get hit by a vehicle or enter an incorrect store then no bonus
This is the final version of the spin off tribute to Mastertronic will be rewarded. Complete all 8 levels to win the ending.
Software's Bionic Granny It features various levels, bonus
screen neat presentation and plenty of tongue in cheek fun.
Even a remix of the classic Bionic Granny theme tune.
Back in 1984, Granny was waiting outside the school gates
waiting to clobber the brats that were responsible for making her life a misery.
Now 26 years later after her hard earned rest SHE'S BACK.
The cantankerous old lady is on a little adventure which is to
go out into town and pick up her pension from out of the local
post office. Unfortunately for her the town's full of pushers
and shovers. Not only is this TOO MUCH for her – she's very
annoyed; so she dons her blue mac picks up her walking stick
and gets ready to clobber the poor folk.
Using a joystick plugged into port 2 help Granny clobber
passers-by to retrieve coins, Granny must clobber at least 5
ULTRAFONT+++
(C)1989 Public Domain Software
Programming:
Music: Jeroen Tel
This is a classic, but very handy graphics font editor In which
allows you to create your very own 1x1 font editors, or use it
to create 3 colour logos. The tool itself also contains wonderful music by Jeroen Tel inside the editor. Also a rendition of a
classic Eric Clapton tune, Leyla by 20CC in the Knickers intro
The editor itself Controls are pretty much simple to use.
F4 – Slide single character to the top
F5 – Multicolour mode
F6 – Hi-Res mode
F7 – Copy single character to memory
F8 – Paste character from memory
In multicolour mode:
SHIFT+1 – Change editor background colour
SHIFT+2 – Change main character colour (Single + Mcol mode)
SHIFT+3 – Change character multicolour 1
SHIFT+4 – Change character multicolour 2
Joystick in port 2 controls:
Up: Move cursor up
Down: Move cursor down
Left: Move cursor left
Right: Move cursor right
Fire: Set pixel
KEYBOARD:
L – Load character set from disk / tape
S – Save character set from disk / tape
F1 – Slide single character to the Right
F2 – Slide single character to the Left
F3 – Slide single character to the bottom
NEXT MONTH
On the next E-Cover Tape.
We will be digging deep into the disk drawers to find yet
more worthy Public Domain programs and/or exclusives.
Maybe we could reveal some demos or music. Also to finish
the tape we shall have something special for you as well. Next
month marks the 5th anniversary of a classic title of ours. It
will also be making its appearance on the E-Cover tape as
well. Stay tuned.
Editors Comments
I notice we are running a Commodore 64 covertape and don’t
want to exclude anyone on another format, If you have a demo,
tool or game on another commodore format or platform you
are welcome to send that to either Richard or myself for inclusion on the magazine, please add a small write-up about the
program. The most important thing is to ensure the software
is your own and you are happy for it to be included on the
magazine
Page 8
READERS COMMENTS
COMMODORE FREE
Wayne, no problem with the articles, I realise you have had
other projects to work on. About the cassette, well to be honest I haven’t seen this game in the flesh on tape, but if anyone
does have a copy for sale (or to give away) they can contact
me and I will pass on any details to Wayne, How’s that! Of
course now you owe me that article on cartridges and if you
do find the game through a reader you owe me 2 articles as a
finder’s fee.
From: "Wayne Womersley"
To: "Nigel Parker" Subject: Commodore Free
Date: Wed, Aug 7, 2013 11:17
Hi Nigel, I First must apologise because I have been meaning
to write some Cartridge Articles for you and unfortunately
got into other things instead... The Good News is I have
somebody interested in working with me on finishing a
Game so all those years stuck up in my Bedroom drawing
Graphics didn't go to waste - LOL :-> When we get to a
Demo Stage we will send Commodore Free a Demo of
course :->
Do you know of anyone who possesses a Heavy Metal Paradroid Cassette that they would like to sell - Would really like
to Play it again...
Yours Faithfully
Wayne
Page 10
GENERAL NEWS
Happy birthday MIDI 1.0:
The below link is to the “register website”, the site has information that commemorates 30 years of the humble midi interface (a way for musical instruments to communicate
easily) Personally I shudder to think what had to happen before Midi was created and wonder how many technology
bands wouldn’t have been created without the interface or
standard
Getting pop stars wired for 30 years
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/19/midi_spec_1_is_
30_happy_birthday_musical_instrument_digital_interface/
Happy 50th birthday, Compact Cassette:
Of course without Tape the computing world could have
been a very different place, because tape was cheap and easy
way to store programmers it wasn’t fast but without it all
those basic dabbling you created would have gone to nothing
when you turned off the machine am I the only one to leave a
machine on for two days while typing in a magazine listing
only to run said listing without saving anything and then find
I had lost the program due to a typo somewhere around line
1, don’t badmouth this technological piece of history celebrate it by listening to you commodore data tapes on an audio tape player and dance around to the buzzing wining
bleeps ………………………
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkggggggggg
rrrrrrrrrwwwwwwweeeekkkkekekekekekkkkkkggggkgkgkg
kgkggkkekkekekkgkekgkkeegkkekegkekgekekkgekgekgekegekekekek
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/30/50_years_of_the
_compact_cassette/
Page 11
GENERAL NEWS
MICROMUSIC.NET CELEBRATES 14 YEAR BIRTHDAY
Commodore Free
Here is what they had to say about the birthday celebrations
dear micro_people
14 years ago, a bunch of young boys started a new online
platform called micromusic.net...Happy happy birthday and
all the best for the future! thanx for flying with us!
munities', advanced real-time communication tools and
highly optimized interface design were also quite important to us.
The micromusic crew realised a multimedia website which
is unique on the worldwide web within less than 2 years.
The very active and rockin' micro community counts almost 3000 people now and the quality of the uploaded lowtech tunes has reached a level which defines a new
standard in the territory of low-tech music and online music communities.
just a lil presi for you, dear memberz, download now:
online / offline
Cyberstorm by Acidbeatz
news relief by aviel brown
hello pretty by Rico Z
in the early days when micromusic went online with its
website, it was thought as a pure online project, but by the
end of the year 2000 is was quite clear to us that it will be
more an online AND offline community project. In November 2000 a part of the micromusic core team went on their
first micromusic club tour to Hamburg (MFOC, pudel club)
and Berlin (WMF). Shortly before people from London organized the first micro meeting in real space. also micromusic was presented at the multimedia festival VIPER2000 in
Basel, Switzerland and there was a second micro meeting
in Stockholm end of December 2000.
we all meetz again on micromusic's microtalk! tell all your
enemies & friendz on fazebuuk: we like!
if you're using SMART PHONES, you can also go to the following URL:
http://micromusic.net/microtalkx (this is the lightweight
'microtalk only' version of the website.)
we luv you so much, honestly! the micromusic team
http://www.micromusic.net
|| ||| | ||| | |||| || | |||
lowtech music for hightech people
multimedia net_work_community_system
micromusic was brought to life in November 1998 by carl
(gino esposto, zurich - Switzerland) and superB (michael
burkhardt, basel - schweiz) under the code name "futurelab". the following months were used to define the project,
program and finally put the website online in the beginning of august 1999. what was originally thought as a simple community website to get
hold of low_tech_musik produced by low_tech_producerz
for lovers of computer generated tunes via the worldwide web
was developing fast into a highly complex
websound_community_system
using the latest internet technology.
Concerning the music,
micromusic also took the plunge to release a CD
(MICRO_SUPERSTARZ 2000) presenting 17 artists from
Switzerland, USA, UK, Germany, Russia, Australia, Japan,
Sweden etc. a ROM data part on the CD takes care of the
interactive groove and includes a visually attractive computer game, music tools & files and provides background info
about the artists and their tracks. more releases - also on
vinyl - are planned for the year 2001 together with our label partners from domicile (www.domizil.ch).
Basically "musical research" is
the most accurate description of
the micromusic.net activities.
Even though music produced on
low budget equipment and retro
computer games sounds was
the focus at the beginning of the
micromusic project, we always
had far more in our minds than
that! The internet is still in its
first years and topics like how
to build up 'special interest comCommodore Free Magazine
Page 12
GENERAL NEWS
Non Functional Goodies
Commodore Free
How many times have you wanted to buy a brand new
none working product you can get working yourself?
Well if you fancy saving a few quid and are handy with
a soldering iron then this could be a good site to look
at any way listed below are the none functioning products and a description about what you are purchasing
and why they are for sale.
Product:
· uIEC/SD
· 64NIC+
· ZoomFloppy
· EasyFlash 3
· 2364 ROM-el
· 23128 ROM-el
· uIEC/IDE
· XPander-3
· XPander-3 VIC
Product Description
We're sure you've clicked on this link, wondering why a
company would openly advertise broken items for sale.
Have we lost our sanity? Are we trying to determine the
naivety of potential customers? Do we wish to inflict hours
of frustration on classic computing enthusiasts?
Hmm, we won't discount those theories. However, our primary reason is much more mundane. Honestly, some of the
items we receive from manufacturing do not work. In the
beginning, when time was more plentiful, we diagnosed
the issues with each non-working item and fixed them. But,
as the product list expands, and time is needed for more
valuable tasks, the box of non-working items waiting for
diagnosis grows larger.
Something must be done. Since "crowdsourcing" is all the
rage these days, we're going to crowd source this task. The
effort goes like this:
4. When the issue is identified, you fix it. We can't promise
replacement parts, but if we have it sitting on the shelf
and can send it, we'll try to do so. Don't count on it,
though.
5. When the issue is resolved, you have a working unit. Enjoy. We'll support firmware upgrades and usage questions on these units just like any other. However, we're
not supporting the unit misbehaving or replacing the
unit if it fails at some point.
6. We don't mind you selling it to someone else, but you
have to let the buyer know the constraints as well. Fair is
fair. Remember, we're marking the units, so we'll know if
it comes back to us.
(OK, so it's not exactly crowdsourcing, but that's our story,
and we're sticking to it!)
Yes, the system could be abused, but our customers are not
like that. Right? In any case, we'll keep at it until it fails to
work, or we run out of stuff (which will never happen permanently, as there's always duds in each batch). Spare us
the commentary on finding better manufacturers who can
assure 100% working stock. We're pretty sure that's not
possible, but even if someone else could do better, they
can't do it at the prices we currently pay for manufacturing.
The trade-off is fine. Even if we never sell a single broken
unit, we're still satisfied with our manufacturing partner.
They provide good quality at a great price, and we can pass
that on to our customers.
So, if you love the smell of vaporized flux in the morning,
leap for joy when seeing bus cycles displayed on your
scope, and can convert logic analyser graphs of serial data
into actual data elements, this store item may be of interest.
If you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket and
you have copious amounts of free time and great quantities
of patience, click on that "buy now" button and await your
borked treasure. However, if you need to search the web
for truth tables for NAND gates (or even what a NAND gate
is), can't understand the X10 switch on your scope probe,
or burnt yourself in the last 12 months on your soldering
iron, these are not the products you are looking for.
Notes
· The XPander-3 VIC technically works, but it has the following issues:
1. There's a small "entrance fee" to this effort. We've listed
o The switches to enable/disable power and IO signals
all of our non-working items on this page at greatly reare too close to the 22/44 pin connectors. Thus, carduced costs. This is done for two reasons. It allows us to
tridges with their shells will not fit. Relocating the
recoup a bit of the cost to manufacture these products,
switches under the PCB will address the issue
and it also ensures we target people genuinely interested.
o
The 2 unconnected cartridge port lines were run to
So, to "join", you simply buy one of more of the items.
each expansion port. But, some newer VIC-20s and
2. We mark the item as non-working, and ship it to you.
some cartridges ties those lines to various voltages or
3. You figure out what is wrong with it. We'll provide scheuse them in special ways. Thus, they should be disconmatics, firmware, etc., but we're not doing the debugging.
nected at each expansion port connector to prevent
We have no idea what ails these boards. Break out the
any possible damage to the VIC-20. We won't take rescope and logic analyser and have at it. Note that we
sponsibility for frying a VIC-20, so we're selling the
make no promises the unit is repairable. It's the gamble
current units as "broken
you're taking. So, if you buy one of these, assume the
money is gone forever, and if the unit can be repaired,
http://store.go4retro.com/non-functional-goodies/
you can think of it as finding free money!
Page 13
COMMODORE 64 NEWS
KICKASS CRUNCHER PLUGINS
*[ByteBoozer](http://csdb.dk/release/?id=109317 )* and
*[Exomizer](http://hem.bredband.net/magli143/exo/ )*.
Information from the Readme file says
Download
**KickAss Cruncher Plugins**
You can find the latest version right here on GitHub:
makes it possible to crunch (pack) 6502 assembler code and
other data compile-time with the MOS 65xx assembler
https://github.com/p-a/kickass-cruncher-plugins/releases
**[Kick Assembler](http://www.theweb.dk/KickAssembler
)**. This is done by the means of Kick Assembler's plugin
support, in specific *Modifiers*. The current version has support for two of the most popular crunchers for the Commodore 64,
Dr. Evil Labs
From: "Kent Sullivan
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Great article on CMD in issue 72!
Date: Fri, Aug 9, 2013 18:26
Hi,
https://www.commodoreserver.com/BlogView.asp?BID=2
2E95790589E42CF8BAA46C249B0FDE1
History of Dr Evils Laboratory
This blog recounts the history of Dr. Evil Laboratories, the
creator, manufacturer, and retail sales of peripherals and
software for the Commodore 64, including the Imagery! adventure game system, the SID Symphony Stereo cartridge,
and the Swiftlink-232 cartridge.
I was one of the principals in Dr. Evil Labs. Not sure if you
had heard that we have been blogging about the company’s
history on commodoreserver.com:
https://www.commodoreserver.com/BlogView.asp?BID=2
2E95790589E42CF8BAA46C249B0FDE1
The most recent entries are for the SID Symphony Stereo
Cartridge. I will be updated the part 2 entry soon with more
documents – scans of vintage product reviews and pictures
of the different cartridge versions.
Earlier entries (accessible using the calendar on the right
side of the page) cover the beginning of the company, Commodore 64/128 Kermit, and the Imagery! adventure game
system. Future posts will look at the SwiftLink-232 and the
sale to CMD.
--Kent
COMMODORE FREE
For anyone wishing to read the blog its available from
here
Prg2Sid 0.80 By iAN CooG RELEASED
PRG2SID 0.80 (/) iAN CooG/HVSC
Automatically attaches a PSID header to a ripped (prg) tune.
Identifies some players and sets init/play accordingly, also
patches the header/code if needed. Default init/play addresses are $1000/1003 (actually
loadaddress/loadaddress+3) and are set like that for all unknown players.
Usage: p2s <filename.prg> [new_load_addr]
Output name will always have input base name plus .sid extension, whether input name has an extension or not. If inCommodore Free Magazine
put file is already a PSID/RSID file, won't be processed. You
can override the loadaddress by specifying the new one as
2nd parameter, to avoid the need to cut the file manually up
to the music file start address.
For example if you have an unpacked prg ranging from
$0801 to $9fff generated
by UNP64, and the music is located at $1000, use:
p2s your_unpacked_file.prg $1000
New loadaddress must be contained between real loadaddress and end file address, and can be specified in decimal
or hex (use prefix $ or 0x). It will be ignored if the value is
out of range.
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=120896
Page 14
COMMODORE 64 NEWS
CODEBASE 64 Scanning the Keyboard
the correct and non-KERNAL way
Codebase doesn’t allow binaries so you can download
the program from here
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/119347/KeyboardTest.prg
To view the full article and the Code go to this link
http://codebase64.org/doku.php?id=base:scanning_the_key
board_the_correct_and_non_kernal_way
Scanning the Keyboard the correct and non-KERNAL way
This routine is for the English Keyboard.
The routine can easily be extended to handle Control Port
#1 input.
Limitations
The technical limitation on the C64 Keyboard hardware is
that not more than 2 keys may be pressed at the same time
if you want to be 100% sure the result is valid. In some cases, three keys will work fine but whenever 3 keys form a
right angle in the keyboard scan matrix, a 4th letter will appear. The combination “ABC” will work fine but the combination “ASD” will form such a triangle and the matrix will also
report that the “F” key is pressed. Same goes for “ASF”
which would incorrectly read a “D” the same way.
In short, the C64 keyboard is not a piano where you can
play chords and stuff.
UNP64 v2.30 - Generic C64 prg unpacker By Ian Coog
RELEASED
Original source and idea: testrun.c, taken from Exomizer
2.0b7 by Magnus Lind. Converted to a generic prg unpacker
by iAN CooG. Being a derived project, Exomizer' sources
used for UNP64 are included and modified where needed.
The idea is simple: to simulate the C64 memory/processor,
run the program until it reaches the unpack routine, usually
relocated to an address lower than $0800, then to continue
execution until the Program Counter returns to a normal address usually higher than $0800. At this point, save all the
memory. I normally do this process in emulators by setting
breakpoints but an automatic program that does it for me is
handy. PUCrunch and Exomizer 2.0Beta7 already have their
own decrunch commands. This program should cover those
2 and almost all the remaining ones.
- Action Replay 4 & FreezeMachine Split freezes are detected
and a onefile prg will be generated. Then you can unpack
the result or crunch it. Action Replay 4.x files are: loader
"name" and 2nd file "1name" Unknown Cart files can be any
name, 2nd filename is written in loader. Of course both files
must be in the same directory.
- Scanners to get exact unpack address from MANY difficult unpackers. See Unpackers section later in this document for a list.
- Tries to identify also entry point in SYS-less packers.
- Added some memory init values before running. A C64 minimal environment I replicated so many unpackers can act as
on the real one.
- Added handling of some Kernal calls which return modified
regs.
- Simple $01 banking implemented: writing to I/O area for
example is handled
only when RAM is visible there, else writes to I/O are
skipped.
- Simple raster ($d011/2) handling, enough to avoid hanging
some unpackers (AR)
- Faked keyboard checks to bypass many intros/trainers.
- Warnings are given in Verbose mode if vectors from $0314
are modified, so you'll know if an IRQ or something else
should happen.
Main changes applied to Exomizer sources:
- Many undocumented opcodes added to 6502emu.c to unpack more packers/coders.
- Fixed handling of some opcodes (indirect JMP, JSR, BRK not
stopping, ADC/SBC)
- Better sysline detection and parameter to force entry point.
TrilogicExpert/ActionReplay/SuperSnapshot5/FreezeMachi http://csdb.dk/release/?id=120897
ne/Final Cart II & III scanner, should cover every known (to http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/119280/unp64_230.7z
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/119281/unp64_230_src.tar.gz
me) version.
Page 15
VIC NEWS
Realms of Quest IV: 4-Level Demo Version
Name: Realms of Quest IV: 4-Level Demo Version
Author: Ghislain
Released: September 1, 2013
Requirements: VIC-20 with 16K minimum memory expansion is required. 24K is recommended for better performance (for less disk usage) and greater 3D graphical
perspective. A disk drive is also required.
The enemy this time are the mysterious Time Lords who
threaten the reign of the fairer creatures above the earth.
Befalls thus you, brave adventurers, to battle the labyrinth
below all our feet, and ensure for yet another generation,
that the evils and chaos do not rise. How it can be so, that
this peace last forever, none knows. All one knows, is in the
Dungeon, lay riches, glory and the immortality of your name.
Download.
http://realmsofquest.blogspot.co.uk/
Description: Demo version of the upcoming Psytronik reDiscuss.
lease for Realms of Quest IV where the first four levels of
http://sleepingelephant.com/ipwthe dungeon can be explored. The attached PDF manual is
web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6350
still a work in progress, but serves as a preview of how the
printed version will look like when the whole game package
YOUTUBE VIDEO.
is published.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTv_q8S3dig&feature=
The long-awaited follow-up to Realms of Quest III is almost youtu.be
completed. As I continue work on finishing Ultimate Quest
for the Commodore 64 (intended to be on Side 2 of this
Psytronik release), I make the first four Dungeon levels
available to everyone.
Realms of Quest IV has the following features:
-10 Dungeon Levels with various riddles, traps and NPC characters who can aid you on your quest (4 levels only for
Demo Version)
-Over 100 monster graphic portraits (50 in Demo Version)
-10 races and 12 classes to choose from as you assemble 8
players for your party
-60 magic spells
-Over 135 items (weapons, armour, shield, gems, jewels, potions and scrolls)
-3 game fonts to choose from
Beginning Assembly Programming on the Commodore
Vic-20
by Lawrence Woodman
http://techtinkering.com/2013/04/16/beginningassembly-programming-on-the-commodore-vic-20/
Created as a basic introduction to Assembly language programming on the Vic Lawrence shares knowledge that the
beginners needs to be able to create a small HELLO WORLD
program and then run it He also plays around with Screen
colours and then gives further links for the interested reader
Lawrence says this
Here I will show you how to get started programming the Vic20 in assembly language. I will not be teaching 6502 assembly
language itself as there are better resources available and I
will link to these. I will, however, be showing you what you
need to get started, where some of the best resources are and
I will be giving a few examples to whet your appetite
Page 16
VIC NEWS
NEW VIC GAMES Boogieman, Exploria and Korque
Kurt Johns says
“I am posting all my games, but I will only point out a few I
am most proud of. “
Name: Boogieman, Exploria ,Korque
Author: Kurt Johns
Released: 2013
Requirements: Unexpanded VIC-20 for Boogieman & Korque
3K expansion for Exploria
Description: Boogieman is a maze game, Korque is a platform game Exploria is a ... hmmm ... exploring game
Screenshot:
There are 31 titles here. Download & More:
http://www.softboxmetal.com/aj&kj.html
Not only can you download the files as TAP format but you
can also buy the titles from the website as real tape games
with covers etc.
Page 17
VIC NEWS
THEATER OF WAR TRILOGY (COMPILATION DISK) FOR
THE UNEXPANDED VIC-20
Note: All games are compatible with the unexpanded VIC20!
Author: Ghislain
Theatre of War is a gripping trilogy of turn-based strategy
games for the unexpanded VIC-20 by Ghislain de Blois, author of the popular Realms of Quest RPG games. As well as
the three 'Theatre of War' games this compilation also contains a bonus selection of arcade games (see below for complete list).
To buy a physical copy of the game on disk with instructions
printed on the cover inlay all of which is placed inside in its
very own plastic jewel case, go here
http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/index.php?main_pa
ge=product_info&cPath=87_95&products_id=612
Go here to get a lower-priced budget disk-only version
(with a loose printed instruction sheet)
http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/index.php?main_pa
ge=product_info&cPath=87_95&products_id=613
The Theatre of War trilogy features three complete campaigns to play - WW2 Eastern Front, WW2 Pacific Theatre
and WW1 Western Front. The games put you in command of
Discuss here http://sleepingelephant.com/ipwmilitary units and allow you to recreate battles from the
web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6594
first or second World War.
Select your units, deploy your forces, and let battle commence!
See the Commodore Free reviews later in this issue for
more details
The Premium Disk version of Theatre Of War is presented in
a 5.25" plastic disk case and features full colour glossy cover
artwork by Steve 'STE'86' Day. The floppy disk is packaged
in a full colour glossy disk sleeve with a full colour label.
THEATER OF WAR DISK CONTAINS:
• THEATER OF WAR I (WW2 Eastern Front)
• THEATER OF WAR II (WW2 Pacific Theatre)
• THEATER OF WAR III (WW1 Western Front)
• BREAK FAST II
• FACE VERSUS HEEL
• MAGITOOL
• OLYMPIC DASH
• SPACE WARZ
• STREET BATTLE
• VICROLEAGUE WRESTLING I
• VICROLEAGUE WRESTLING II
• WORM OUT
Page 18
AMIGA NEWS
AROS Vision 2.0 online based in Magellan
On the download-page you can download version 2.0 of
AROS Vision.
The Highlights include:
Based on Magellen (SAS Version)
AREXX integrated (Regina)
Snapshoter
OWB (AROS Version), Netsurf and AWeb integrated
Updated System files
Hotkeys added (description on download-page)
Filetypes for the most important picture and sound formats including AVI
Packer-support
and much more
download:
http://www.aros-platform.de/html/dis..._download.html
AMIGAKIT SECURES AMITCP 4 DISTRIBUTION
AGREEMENT
Managing Director of AmigaKit, Matthew Leaman, commented: “We are pleased to once again support the Amiga and
bring new software developments to market. EasyNet will
continue to be upgraded over the next few months and beAmigaKit Secures AMITCP 4 Distribution Agreement
AmigaKit, http://www.amigakit.com/ long-standing Amiga yond, re-affirming our commitment to our customers and
product. The inclusion of AMITCP 4 into this package will
computer retailer and developer of the EasyNet software
has secured a distribution agreement for AMITCP 4 with the strengthen the application and give users more functionality.”
developers, NSDi. The deal will result in AMITCP 4 being
available once again for commercial sale integrated into the Tomi Ollila of NSDi commented: “We, the creators of
AmiTCP/IP are pleased to see there is nice market for the
forthcoming EasyNet Professional Edition package.
Amiga machine and operating system that has taught us so
EasyNet is a modern Internet networking package for Clas- much during its existence and we hope this agreement with
AmigaKit makes it even better.”
sic Amiga computers, which also provides a feature-rich
front end for AMITCP. Existing users of the standard EasyNet will be eligible for a future upgrade package to the Profes- http://www.amigakit.com/
sional Edition.
AEROS for Pi beta 4
synaptic/aptitude/apt get)..
A new upload beta 4 based on Deadwood's stable ARM ABI.
The ARM AROS builds where a kind of "ABI work in
Progress". This fact hindered the possibility to aim for the
AROS ARM build as developer.
www.aeros-os.org
Now everyone can start porting apps to AROS for ARM.
Registered users can check www.aeros-os.org Everyone
else should check for the public version.
Due to some failures there it is no rc1 but a beta4.
New in beta4:
- based on stable ARMhf ABI from Deadwood
- Includes Contrib stuff like
- DEMOS, GAMES, Wazp3D, OWB (the old version and not
tested/buggy), Screenrecorder, DOPUS (not Magellan)
- Deadwood compiled lx for ARMhf so launching Linux stuff
from AROS side is working as before (it lacks a lot of Linux
applications from the last release.. feel free to use
Page 19
AMIGA NEWS
100th issue of Obligement magazine
‎ The following articles have been added to the website of
the French Amiga/MorphOS magazine Obligement
(http://obligement.free.fr) during the last few months :
- July/August 2013 news.
- Old articles from Amiga News 23 to 36 : report: AmiExpo
1991 Berlin, review of Excellence! 2.0, review of Scala, file:
Amiga mice, review: Bars & Pipes Professional, report: CeBIT
1991, hardware: A2088XT, etc.
- Interview with Trevor Dickinson (manager of A-Eon Technology).
- Interview with David Taddei.
- Hardware: Mediator PCI 1200 TX.
- Review of NetSpeedometer et NetDock.
- Review of Silly Putty.
- Review of Amiga Revisited 2011.
- Review of Tracker Hero.
- Review of Lure Of The Temptress.
- File: Roger Dean and its Psygnosis' productions.
- Tutorial: how to draw watermarks with Art Effect 4.
- Tutorial: network share with SMBFS under MorphOS.
- Misc: book "101 Jeux Amiga".
- Special quiz about The Settlers.
New software releases by OnyxSoft
OnyxSoft are releasing two software updates! ZoomIT,
ZoomIT.pobj
Updated program
Articles in English:
- Interview with Trevor Dickinson (manager of A-Eon Technology).
It's the 100th issue of Obligement which was available in different forms since its birth:
6 issues in paper (1997)
7 issues in Scala (1998-1999)
7 issues in Blitz Basic AGA (1999-2000)
2 issues in AmigaGuide (2000)
14 issues in Blitz Basic RTG (2000-2002)
14 issues in HTML (2003-2005)
50 issues directly online (2005-2013)
Rendez-vous on http://obligement.free.fr for this nice reading.
All translations are welcome. Please contact David "Daff"
Brunet for more info.
New program
ZoomIT.pobj v1.0 - (MorphOS 3.2+) ZoomIT.pobj is a small
panel object created for MorphOS 3.2 or later.
- First release. =)
If you don't feel like contacting us but still like to contribute
then OnyxSoft homepage has a Donate button not too far
away
ZoomIT v1.3 - (MorphOS, OS4, OS4, AROS_i386) A MUIbased magnify/zoom application.
- Removed the requirements for CyberGraphX (shall work
even on non-RTG hopefully).
http://www.onyxsoft.se/
- Added Türkçe translation (Thanks to Serkan Dursun).
- Added Español translation (Thanks to Dámaso Domínguez).
- Removed Scale Mode
- Removed Colour Mode
- Removed Magnifications above 1000%
NOTE-1 : AmigaOS4 binary cross compiled and untested IRL.
NOTE-2 : AROS binary built via hosted variant and untested
on native AROS-installation (Icaros etc.)
An oldie but goodie Zomco's parody of Kefrens's
legendary Amiga demo "Desert Dream".
here. The game seems to have aged especially the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i48TYQJusDU
Zomco's parody of Kefrens's legendary Amiga demo "Desert
Dream". This parody won the 7DX 2010 Demo Party Wild
Compo. Many people in the Amiga community don't even
know this parody exists, well now you do!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYpLZhkkyRs
If you have been living under a rock for the past 20+ years
and have never seen the Amiga version of Desert Dream
that runs on the humble 7Mhz Amiga 500 you can watch it
Page 20
AMIGA NEWS
AMIGAOS 4 NEWS: SKETCHBLOCK 2.2
SketchBlock 2.2 is available from os4depot
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=gra
phics/edit/sketchblock.lha
Major Changes In SketchBlock 2.2
tionAdjust and GradientFill, RadialFill, and Ripples filters.
New Toolbar Images
Martin "Mason" Mertz has contributed some great new toolbar images and a splash logo. Thanks Mason!
Macro Recording
All (well nearly all) actions can be recorded into a macro,
which can then be run or edited as needed.
Selection Masks- It's now possible to mark areas of the image as selected and use these areas as mask for painting, etc.
Some bug fixes
There four new tools to assist with this.
See the changelog for details.
Rectangle Select - drag with mouse, press space bar to select.
Enjoy!
Elipse Select - drag with mouse, press space bar to select.
Flood Select
Colour Select
It's also possible to create a selection mask from the alpha
channel of a layer....
Layer Thumbnails
There now a thumbnail in the layers list.
Transform Plugins
Pixel transforms are now true plugins. Also added SaturaVampire 600: FPGA A600 Accelerator Preorder
‎ News from Djole
UPDATE: August 8, 2013
Now board is 32MB autoconfig. But, haters gotta hate. It is
just interesting to me what I read on various forums. There
are so much people who would like to see all of this fall
http://www.majsta.com/
down, and never see real success. Why? Just so they can say
Ok now is the time to investigate how many people are inter- "I told you that all of this will be failure". I don't know the reason for all of this but those days I realized one thing. That
ested in Vampire 600 so I can determine how much boards
Amiga is not destroyed just because company died. Amiga is
to produce. If you are interested send me Mail.
destroyed by developers and resellers wanted to earn huge
money from Amiga name. Like vultures various people are
Price: 90Euros + shipping
sending me bunch of mails wanting to increase price of the
What you get:
CPU: FPGA emulated MC68000 or MC68010 or partially em- boards and to resell them. Proposal prices about 200Euros
:) Let me say this. If I ever seen that someone sells this card
ulated MC68020(your choice)
for some incredible high price I will stop him by putting
Performance: More than 6Mips
tons of boards for sale at manufacturing cost. No more exMemory: 64MB of FastRam (Zorro III space)
ploiting Amiga scene from now!!! Here is what I said one of
Autoconfig: 32MB( for now)
the supporters of this project yesterday. Yes I received lot of
PCMCIA friendly: Yes
mails for some proposals. Resellers, manufacturers all of
them wanna make money and increase price and benefit
You will be informed that your order is placed by mail and
listing your name in the picture attached to this topic. Send- from this. I will fool them all open-sourcing everything. I
ing accelerator boards will take place hopefully next month will survive alone and do everything alone and my work will
be free and I will send lot of boards for free to people and
and according to the mentioned list. When your board is
ready you will receive PayPal invoice to your mailbox. If you PCB also. I’m waiting just for another money transfer from
don't want to be listed just say in the mail. About guarantee my governdon't worry I don't intend to leave I'm here to made signifi- ment. I'm in
a mission recant influence on Amiga scene, remember :) Other compomember.
nents like OSD, loading Kickstart from MicroSD card and
With
true
PS2 mouse support will be provided later with core upAmiga
spirit.
grades so I suggest everyone to buy USB blaster programmer because I don't intend to stop at 6Mips :) Board will not
have PS2 and MicroSD sockets because they are unusable
inside case so we will find a way later to bring them out
with another small PCB. I forget to say that all of those who
had some contribution in this project will have another
price or no price at all...
Page 21
AMIGA NEWS
AMIGAOS 4 NEWS: AMISYSTEMRESTORE R1 BETA7
RELEASED
the 7th public beta of AmiSystemRestore has been release
Downloading it: You can download it from OS4Depot.net.
http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=utility/misc/
amisystemrestore.lha
Details of the changes:
* BUG: Fixed a nasty bug, where a (deleted/changed) soft link
in the Sys: partition to a folder somewhere, could cause
AmiSystemRestore to delete everything inside that folder. This
could easily happen if RunInUAE was installed on Sys:.
* BUG: The GUI would crash if you attempted to manually delete a restore point which contained a soft link.
Well, if you install a new program (or update an existing one),
you have no idea if any new libraries (or other changes) will have
problems that may break existing programs. A badly written installer might even replace libraries (etc.) with older versions!
AmiSystemRestore allows you to undo all recent changes
(whether or not they were done by the installer), and return
SYS: to an earlier point in time. Knowledgeable users can be
more selective about which changes are undone, with the warning that they need to know what they are doing!
If you are installing something using AmiUpdate or the official
Installer system, then AmiSystemRestore will automatically
create Restore Points for you (and Ringhio messages should
notify you of this).
What is AmiSystemRestore?
AmiSystemRestore aims to give AmigaOS4 a similar ability to
Window's very useful System Restore. What it does is create
Restore Points, which act as snapshots of your SYS: partition
(where the OS is stored). If anything changes on your SYS: partition, then you can roll it back to the time of the snapshot.
Why would you want to undo changes to your SYS: partition?
Interview Glenn Corpes
Interview with Glenn Corpes, author of Amiga titles like
Flood, Syndicate & Populous. The interview is in Spanish but
various websites exist were you can translate the text, or
even by using Google translate
http://amigatronics.wordpress.com/
Page 22
COMMODORE 64 MOON MISSION
GAME REVIEW
Written in BASIC this game may have already put a lot of
readers off however loading the d64 the game opens with a
title screen with the words CIA standing for Commodore is
Awesome
Surely it’s briefed as isn’t debriefing removing ones under
garments? Anyway after the briefing or removal of our under garments has been successful the screen shows the control method and asks us to select a level
Soon the screen clears and we are presented with
The game then starts
Moon mission title screen the credits say the game is by Paulo Garcia and the music by Pievspie, the music is quite surreal more random than an actual tune as such, subtly space
like an it fits the game or sets the scene nicely.
It’s really what you expect a basic program to be, it’s quite
responsive but ultimately the game is written in basic, albeit
with an upbeat sound track, you can hit run-stop at any time
to list the program out for this it could be used as a training
or teaching aid for anyone wanted to dabble in commodore
Pushing return we are briefed of de briefed about our mission BASIC
The game play is all done to death, you have thrusters and
need to land the craft on a flat surface of course you have
limited fuel and need to land safely before this is depleted.
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/119993/MissionMoon.d64
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/119992/MissionMoon.zip
Page 23
COMMODORE FREE REVIEW OF
THEATER OF WAR
The Theatre of War trilogy features three complete campaigns to play - WW2 Eastern Front, WW2 Pacific Theatre and WW1 Western Front. The games put you in
command of military units and allow you to recreate battles
from the first or second World War
Select your units, deploy your forces, and let battle commence!
Information from PSYTRONIC software
Theatre of War is a gripping trilogy of turn-based strategy
games for the unexpanded VIC-20 by Ghislain De Blois, author of the popular Realms of Quest RPG games. As well as
the three 'Theatre of War' games this compilation also contains a bonus selection of arcade games (see below for complete list).
The Premium Disk version of Theatre Of War is presented
in a 5.25" plastic disk case and features full colour glossy
cover artwork by Steve 'STE'86' Day with the instructions
printed on the reverse. The floppy disk is packaged in a full
colour glossy disk sleeve with a full colour label. The compilation is also available as a Budget Disk release which features the floppy disk packaged in a glossy full colour disk
sleeve with colour disk label and a printed instruction sheet.
Page 24
COMMODORE FREE REVIEW OF THEATER OF WAR
WAR package as a whole rather than individually but I will
do mini reviews on all the games just for completeness,
Starting then with the war games trilogy;
as this is the main part of the package with (as I see it) the
other games adding as a bonus or filler items, of course you
select the game you want from a nice title screen
Loading theatre of war
THEATER OF WAR DISK CONTAINS:
• BREAK FAST II
• MAGITOOL
• OLYMPIC DASH
• SPACE WARZ
• STREET BATTLE
• VICROLEAGE I
• VICROLEAGE II
• WORM OUT
The game loads and you can select the options of either reading the instructions or a 1 or 2 player game or play the
game with alternate graphics, starting the game with a single player (yes I am without friends again) we are taken on
a turn based strategy screen viewed from the top although
the men and tanks seem to be drawn from the side. It’s a
standard layout for this sort of game the graphics look good
and the screen updates are surprisingly quick, but with the
game programmed in a mix of machine code and basic you
would expect the game for the main part to be snappy!
Note: All games are compatible with the unexpanded VIC-20! Sound is just a set of bleeps and you need some time to read
the manual and digest what you need to do, it’s a valiant effort.
The computer opponent is a little dumb but seemed to have
more firepower to make up for its stupidity, game play is
turn based so you deploy your men then the computer deploys, then you move your men then the computer moves
its men. The computer thinking time is rapid so you are not
left twiddling your thumbs, lovers of these games will overlook any criticisms, its nothing new but well implemented
and although doesn’t push the machine to its limits it does
provide a rather playable war inspired game.
Part 2 sees us in the pacific
This time we have only 3 options they are 1 or two player
game and an option to read the instructions, one thing that
is neat in the instructions is that all they all show the character are listed with their strengths and weaknesses, we view
I decided to review the 3 main titles under one heading
these one at a time on screen like a sort of top trumps playTheatre of war game review
ing card (I am sure other style top trump playing cards are
available and of course I wouldn’t advertise for legal reatheatre of war
sons unless I was paid to do so) anyway It’s a neat idea and
theatre of war 2 (the pacific)
also makes you wonder what sort of shoe horn system was
THEATER OF WAR III (WW1 Western Front)
used to squeeze all this data into the machine. At random
Well one thing is for sure, you definitely get value for money you see a pane fly over the play area, one time it’s your side
then the enemy with the word AIR STRIKE, these strikes can
the hard part now is how to rate this, I decided to mark the
Page 25
Part 2 sees us in the pacific
This time we have only 3 options they are 1 or two player
game and an option to read the instructions, one thing that
is neat in the instructions is that all they all show the character are listed with their strengths and weaknesses, we view
these one at a time on screen like a sort of top trumps playing card (I am sure other style top trump playing cards are
available and of course I wouldn’t advertise for legal reasons unless I was paid to do so) anyway It’s a neat idea and
also makes you wonder what sort of shoe horn system was
used to squeeze all this data into the machine. At random
you see a pane fly over the play area, one time it’s your side
then the enemy with the word AIR STRIKE, these strikes can
knock out you or the opponents men, you can’t do anything
but sit watch and pray!
need a memory upgrade , but some animation and music
would enhance the game
Breakfast II
After a short intro picture we press space to move on and
have options to play the game or read the instructions, so
after a quick read I am ready to go!
Instructions
launch the moving colour blocks with the space bar.
score points by having blocks land next to other blocks of different colours. you lose a life if a block touches another block
of the same colour. you also lose a life for failing to launch a
block after three tries. you can score even more points by using collared blocks that are of higher value.
Oh when you move your character turns white to show its
been moved, the character to move shows in light blue with
your other characters in dark blue, so you can easily see
colours are listed in order of their value from left to right.
who has or hasn’t moved and what moves you have left, the
number of moves is determined by the character itself that
stay focused. always make sure not to hit any blocks of the
you placed on the board , if you don’t want to move one time same colour. a bonus life will be awarded to you every 1000
you press space and it moves on to your next character !
points.
once you hit the enemy base (denoted by their flag) you
move to the next round.
Western front 1918
Well it’s more of the same 3 options again 1 or 2 player and
read the instructions cracking on with a 1 player game (yep
still no friends) it’s all more of the same different graphics
and countries and of course plot, you have different characters I think I have said all I need to in the other parts of the
review.
SCORES
Well I would love to have some music on the title screens
but I suppose what would you need to cut out to fit this into
memory, the sounds are sparse and just blips but you could
argue that nothing more is needed
I would like to see the computer gain more logic, but the
games are well executed also you have to take into account
if you like this sort of game or not, now I am not a turn
based war games player and it took me some time to get
used to the game play but it isn’t a game I wouldn’t play
again, and with a real friend to play with and a few drinks
on a cold rainy night this has some real mileage to it
Comments
A nice set of games that are a worthy release on their own,
many will wonder how the VIC's memory wasn’t blown to
fit all this game play into a small programmable area, could
do with better computer logic on the one player game and
also a little snappier screen updates anything else would
So let’s see then
You have a moving block that goes across the bottom of the
screen, once it hits the side it changes colour and come back
across the screen if you press the space bar it launches the
block upwards till it hits the top of the screen or another
block on screen and then sticks there. If you miss sending
the brick and it hits the screen side 3 times you lose a life
(you start with 3 numbered ZERO to 2)
once you lose all lives the game ends. The game is a sort of
breakout meets columns/Tetris clone although it does seem
quite original in its design by that I mean it’s not a complete
rip off of either game. One thing to note is that the game is
fast, but the in game sound is again rather minimal with just
some bleeps and random noise when you lose a life.
You also lose a life if you have 2 blocks of the same colour
side by side, stacked one on top of other, it’s such an easy
concept and like all the best created easy concept designs,
its rather more ish. The limited graphics and sound don’t
detract from the game. However the game is so difficult as
Page 26
knock out you or the opponents men, you can’t do anything
but sit watch and pray!
Pressing F1 we are invited to “get it on” so on we get then!
The ring appears and again we need to press F1 to start the
game. The game shows the ring and a side on view of the
characters, it’s quite plain and we don’t see any spectators
or any extra graphics to enhance the scene.
Oh when you move your character turns white to show its
been moved, the character to move shows in light blue with
your other characters in dark blue, so you can easily see
who has or hasn’t moved and what moves you have left, the
number of moves is determined by the character itself that
you placed on the board , if you don’t want to move one time
you press space and it moves on to your next character !
once you hit the enemy base (denoted by their flag) you
move to the next round.
When you press a move the name appears on the bottom of
the screen which is a nice touch, it’s basically
waiting until the screen border turns green then deciding on
what Function key to press and hoping it’s good enough to
reduce the enemies power somewhat
Sound is just bleeps with bleeps to signify the bell,
Well what could you add, in game music would be nice and
maybe some bonus articles like in Breakout/Arkanoid that
cause the block to slow down or allow you to change its colour, however its simple addictive and fun. But maybe it has
limited last-ability (if that’s a word)
Summary
Not that new idea, and the whole thing plays a little like a
type in listing, minimal sound and dull gameplay, its one
player only. The whole thing just doesn’t work.
FACE VERSES HEEL
Now this does sound interesting Pro wrestling on the Commodore VIC 20
The instructions Read like this;
magiTOOL
About
magiPROG is an ML assembler that uses decimal numbers.
Use the following format when you program:
tonight's the night! you will walk that aisle, and wrestle the
great champion of the squared circle. you have 5 minutes to
vanquish your foe to reclaim the heavyweight title.
ASL
Accumulator
LDA #255 Immediate
LDA Z255 Zero Page
The game concept
LDA Z255.X
Zero Page,X
You have 4 moves that are executed with the function keys
LDA Z255.Y
Zero Page,Y
f1 to f7, you can execute these moves when the Screen bor- LDA $4096
Absolute
der goes green, the moves start with f1 the easiest and work LDA $4096.X
Absolute,X
up in toughness up to f7
LDA $4096.Y
Absolute,Y
RTS
Implied
The moves change depending on how you have a hold on
BNE @4096
Relative
your opponent or where he is for example down on the
LDA (255X)
(Indirec,X
floor, the list is in the readme so you need to study this beLDA (255)Y
(Indirec,Y
fore you begin you battle.
JMP (4096!) Abs Indir
also lets you save programs which are stored with the PREFIX: P.*
The MEMORY USED for saving your work is 6656 -7679
SINGLE`KEY`COMMANDS:
Assemble Disassemble Run Load Save ZExit
The following programs list the commands that you can use
on screen.
Page 27
magiCHAR (PREFIX: C.*)
Build 8x8 custom chars for your own programs.
MEMORYÙSED: 7168 - 7679
Magi Song
Magi Song is the music creation tool!
magiDRAW (PREFIX: D.*)
Make 64x96 multi-colour graphics. Use SYS 6016 to display
the images. MEMORYÙSED: 5888 - 7679
magiSONG (PREFIX: S.*)
Play and record music with a piano keyboard.
MEMORYÙSED: 7424 – 7679
Now not being too hot a programmer I can’t really comment
on the actual assembler the character tool is useful though,
and can be used to create a custom character set with easy
access to rotate mirror and flip characters and design things
to perfection, oh and of course it allows you to load and save
your creations to disk!
Draw
This is a screen drawing program
The help file lists the following commends
1. background colour
2. border colour
3. character colour
4. auxiliary colour
<-. change colour
B . draw box
C . draw circle
D . draw line
E . erase the screen
F . fill area
G . go home position
H . set home position
Z . return to menu
This is a step time recording program, the main problem is
you can’t actually edit your tune if you make a mistake, but
rather you have to re-record the whole tune again, also adding a space is just a space you can’t specify the space duration or even note length, so any tune will sound; well
robotic at best, you have the ability to change voices and
have some preset sounds at your disposal, this is better than
nothing and easier than poking data into memory, but it
could do with more work, so to at least make some form of
editing mistakes.
One nice feature is the POKES accessed by F7, but you
should be able to edit them somehow, unless I missed something it's just a list of poke comments corresponding to the
tune/music you have created!.
Over all a useful tool for the casual programme, it’s not in
any way perfect but as an all in one tool for the VIC it works
relay well.
SCORES
Well it’s difficult to score and obviously doesn’t count as a
gameplay options so overall I score the application
7/10 a useful
Olympic Dahs
On yer marks get set go......
Basically you move the joystick in the direction of the arrow
on screen to race your man along, of course you need a joystick plugged in to follow the on screen arrow! From what I
have read this was part of a series of games based on the Olympics but the others were never finished.
The screen is quite sparse, you see only the track and the distance markers and of course the main character who is competently animated, rather than just floating along the screen.
SPACE – draw pixel
The sound is also lacking and to be quite honest it’s not realSo you can edit and save your creations for use in your appli- ly much of a game. All you do is compete to better your
cations it’s a useful pixel editing tool although it does run
score over 100 meters. The meters are marked along the
“Very” slow so you need patience to create a masterpiece,
bottom of the screen with the latest record and your current
time at the top of the screen.
Page 28
Not too much of a game and obviously added as a filler to
the package
SPACE WARZ
A fairly nice adventure game for the VIC and the text colours
make it easy to see whets happening on screen also if questions are asked and what the answers were are coloured differently to differentiate the question from the answer. Of
course as its text only! I suppose that’s why it’s called a text
adventure! There isn’t much you can review other than the
interpreter itself and as its quite simple as you can only really enter 2 words with limited vocabulary. Still the game is
very playable, if you’re not a fan you may get frustrated
quite quickly, if you aren’t a fan of these games then you
wouldn’t play it would you !
May the fourth be with you!
in a universe millions of light years away, a bad evil galactic empire has plans for a super deaf star that can destroy a
whole planet....
Led by princess Lela, rebel forces have concocted a halfbaked plan for you to fly to this fortress, get rid of darf vader so that the rightful dudes can once rule again as the supreme dictators...
To play, you type one or two word commands when the com- STREET BATTLE
puter asks "what shall I do now?"
the bad dudes have kidnapped your girlfriend ! Using your
the first word is always a verb and if a second word is used,
hand to hand combat skills, you must pursue them thru the
it is to do something with an object.
streets and rescue her. Make sure to perform the right move
For example “GET BOOK”
against the right enemy or you'll die. when your girlfriend
approaches, do not attack her so to complete the level.
help - lists commands
look - to see the room
get xxx - to grab item
inventory - shows all items you're carrying.
drop xxx - remove item from your inventory.
examine xxx - take a closer look at object.
north south west east: used for moving around
quit - to restart game
Page 29
to fight hulk logan
for the world title. there's a 5 minute time limit.
use these keys to move your wrestler around the ring.
Try to make contact with your opponent when he is weak
for your best chance to gain advantage. a
pin is attempted when executing a finishing
The game basically involves pressing the right key as the enmanoeuvre. g o o d l u c k !!!
emies come close to you, pressing the wrong key or performing the wrong move means death! Also performing the
So basically you are a yellow dot and have to move around
move to early or pressing the key to early will also mean
the ring chasing a red dot, However it does get better so
death! It’s difficult but I am sure you will find some form of
keep reading! Like you I was somewhat underwhelmed with
system to work out what move should be done and where
the initial instructions but persevere there is a game in
or when, I found the game quite frustrating really!
here!
The idea is sound, but as this is a mix of programming styles
with BASIC thrown in to the equation it tends to be quite
slow. The animation is good although it’s quite limited as
the characters seem to glide and not walk due to the lack of
animation in the walking department! However the punches and kicks are well animated and I like the outlined men,
sadly again the sound is rather minimal
VICROLEGUE I
World heavyweight wresting on the unexpanded Vic that’s
got to be pants hasn’t it ?
Well as the tile screen loads and some music plays (that
sounds like it’s been written in step time using the MAGITOOL applications which I guess all the games on this compilation have.
Ok yep doesn’t look that much 2 dots on screen in a blue
square, but as you move into position and take advantage of
your weak time in the opponent and then finally meet up for
a fight move
Well its more random notes than an actual tune, with just a
single channel playing . It does have some good points but I
can’t think of them at this moment..
I press space bar to advance and then am presented with
the options for f1 to play or f7 instructions
The instructions are a must I think so I press f7 to read.
Instructions
ladies & gentlemen!!in the main event of the evening, you are
in control of vic= flair
Page 30
You get these cute animation screens, ok it’s no mortal combat but the idea is actually sound
Talking about sound you just get some white noise for the
fighting moves
Despite all I have said the game is intriguingly playable, an
interesting idea around the machines limitations.
tures then they would be more clear but of course they
wouldn’t fit on an unexpanded Vic 20 which I guess is the
point! Sounds are the same and so is the rest of the game
play
Summary
Well the upgrade added digitised animations but I personally don’t think they add to the game I preferred the original
version!
Summary
You would think after reading the instructions that this
game was rubbish, but the idea to work around the machine WORMOUT
limitations makes for quite a playable game, with a couple
Starting the game gives 3 options
of friends round for a death match it could add to gaming
1 worm out 1
night more than make one!
2 Worm out 2
VICROLEGUE II
Ok so this must be a sequel, maybe the polish has been add3 3 para-trooper
ed and the game tidied up!
Well the music is just a random If it’s not the same as part I, I
couldn’t really decide, and the title screen looks the same
Ever the anarchist I select option 1 for worm out 1
apart from the colours so let’s hit f7 and read the instructions
The instructions say
by system iiii c1988
So basically it’s the same as Vicrolegue 1 same idea similar
Press any key to fire missiles at the space worm before it coninstructions and controls, So without more of a build down, sumes the earth's shield that protects it from the meteor
pressing F1 will let us play the game
swarm. You get a bonus if you can hit the worm's head.
Fight!
Not sure if they say this in wrestling but ..
You also get bonuses for cities still standing after the meteor
swarm at the end of the round
Well the main fighting screen is the same to align your dot
when the enemy’s energy is low
The graphics have changed to digitised mono pictures, to be
quite honest the original looked far better, because the images are small they are difficult to see and the line art animations seemed to fit the small screen better, I know its
technically more advanced but it seems to be a backwards
step to me. Of course if they were full screen digitised picCommodore Free Magazine
It’s not a new game by any means and reminds me of the
type in listings you used to see in magazines. So basically
the “worm” (that is a line of coloured blocks)moves across
the screen and drops a line as it reaches the screen edge
wrapping around. Your job is the shoot the worm doing so
reduces its size by one block, the other blocks around the
Page 31
missing block you have shot will squeeze up to shrink the
PARA-TROOPER
worm and remove the gap in its missing part. Quite interesting with other options that I don’t want to spoil, not a
Instructions
stretch of the machines capabilities by any means but very
by system iiii c1990
playable.
You are the earth's last hope to save it from a meteor swarm.
you have 10 chances. you lose 1 for every time you miss a shot
against a meteor.
Summary
It’s a variation on a theme but plays nicely enough, very retro
WORM -OUT II
Instructions
by system iiii c1990 can you worm your way out of the hole?
use I J K L to gobble food that sprouts in the garden. good
luck! press space to start
you know what this is, you will have played this many times
before especially if you owned a well know brand of mobile
phone, when they were still none touch screen and weren’t
designed by fruit trees or green robots. In this game you control a worm and eat dots or in this case squares, as you eat
them your worm goes longer and so the game continues until you either crash into yourself or the edge of the screen,
Again its nothing new and the graphics are functional rather
than spectacular but it all works well and feels smooth and
fluid.
Using keys J and L to rotate your launcher you release the missiles with I
You have lives to try to rid the earth from deadly meteor
storm by rotating your cannon and shooting them out of the
sky, miss one and you lose a life, when all the lives are gone
you are DEAD and the game ends.
Not too much to say really; again it looks like a type in listing, The graphics and sounds are again minimal and as you
shoot the animation of the meteor moving down the screen
stops while the animation of your shot takes place, making
the game feel even more type in listing than it needs to be.
Definitely needs more work, and better graphics and sound.
The game play needs to be built up. Maybe its needs restarting or scrapping and starting again.
Summary
Nice idea let down by sound and graphics and to some extent the gameplay
Summary
Tried and tested game play, its cut back to the very basics
and of course much better versions already exist
Page 32
COMMODORE FREE INTERVIEW WITH
GHISLAIN DE BLOIS
Q. As is the Commodore Free custom; can you please introduce yourself to our readers, and could I ask on their
behalf “what is so special about the VIC” and when was
your first computing experience, was the Vic your first
machine?
there's a lot of games and game genres which were never
programmed for it--especially in the case of computer fantasy role-playing games (which was the impetus for REALMS
OF QUEST) and tactical war games. The latter case is where
THEATER OF WAR comes in.
I received my first VIC-20 computer in 1982 (I was 9 years
old) after winning it in a Pepsi contest in Northern Ontario.
For the contest, you had to collect bottle caps that spelled V
I C 2 0, the letter that was hardest to find was the letter "C"
(the Commodore "chicken lips" logo) I found it because my
grandmother owned a convenience store and had a bottle
cap opener/drop case and gave me several bottle caps that
she collected every few weeks. I suppose I had an unfair advantage over other people who participated in the contest
at the time, but the "C" that I collected was discarded by the
original purchaser of the Pepsi bottle.
Q. Yes The limited resources in the machine can be a
problem, yet you still released “Theatre of War” for the
unexpanded machine, do you enjoy the challenge or are
you just completely mental
It's a little bit of both :) But 3.5KB of free memory on the
stock machine is not as limiting as one might think. In fact,
when designing a game within those parameters, you are
forced to come up with the core engine and you don't deviate much by being tempted by feature creep. I read an anecdote where an old school video game designer stated that
the main game should be programmed within 1K and that
The VIC-20 that I got came with a cartridge of Jupiter Lander everything else--graphics, music and sound are to fill out
and the original user's guide, and no datassette or disk drive. the rest of the unused memory.
I got bored of Jupiter Lander fairly quickly and I wanted to
learn how to write my own programs and games. After read- Q. What options would you suggest to the would be VIC
ing about half of the user's guide, I quickly learned the folprogrammer, for example what software or programlowing commands: PRINT, GET A$, POKE, FOR...NEXT and
ming applications exist for the Vic that you can recomGOTO. I did not know how to manipulate or display the val- mend and what on line forums or blogs would you
ues of variables until I was 10. I incorrectly assumed that
suggest our would be programmer subscribe to?
video games were programmed with every single
possibility/outcome displayed on the screen with PRINT
I would suggest a good PRG editor like BASEDIT and an ML
statements. To be fair, the main portion of the VIC user's
6502 compiler like ca65 to save a lot of time. I actually proguide didn't get into variables, they were only really disgrammed the first Theatre of War game entirely on the VICcussed in the appendices.
20 itself back in 2010 on a whim using Commodore BASIC
2.0 and my own makeshift assembler. For Theatre of War II
I didn't really make good games when I was 9, but I did have & III, I just used a laptop, an emulator and of course, ca65.
fun and a lot of frustration typing in those games called
You can see my makeshift assembler the latter in magiTOOL
KILLER COMET and ROCKET COMMAND (from the VIC uson the Theatre of War game disk.
er's guide). I didn't have any means of storing these programs, so I spent considerable time typing them in order
Myself, I use websites like Denial
that myself and my younger brothers could enjoy another
(http://sleepingelephant.com/denial) and Lemon 64
game besides Jupiter Lander. We only got to enjoy them for (http://lemon64.com/forum). For everything else, I use
a few minutes as my Dad would often kick us off the VIC-20 Google to look things up. In fact, a lot of Commodore technito watch television. I had no cassette drive to save my
cal stuff is on the internet so it's actually more convenient to
games and programs. I did eventually acquire more games
search for it rather than saunter over to a book shelf and
on cartridge such as SERPENTINE, GORF, OMEGA RACE, etc. pull out the old programmer's reference guide to look something up.
Q. Why do you still program the VIC what’s the fascination with the machine apart from your nostalgia
Q. You mentioned cross platform programming so Do
you feel Programming the vic has become easier to proWell yes I suppose that growing up with the machine,
gram with cross platform applications, and is this why
there's a certain attachment to it. But I also appreciate the
we are seeing more software appear that seems to
aesthetic qualities of a 22x23 character screen which gives
make the Vic do things that would have been unit close to a perfect square when it comes to creating a disthought-of of a few years ago, or are programmers beplay and playfield for games. And considering that the VICcoming more adventurous and dare we says just more
20 was soon eclipsed by its successor, the Commodore 64,
proficient at programming
Page 33
COMMODORE FREE INTERVIEW WITH GHISLAIN DE BLOIS
page manual? I even designed my own Axis & Allies variant
Cross platform development applications certainly helps a
in 1997 which was subsequently called Theatre of War with
lot. It's much easier to write an ML routine in a text file on a 2000 counters designed by hand but I only play tested it
PC and then compile it from command line for quick testing once with a friend.
(as in the case of ca65). There's impressive stuff for the VIC20 lately like rhurst's Omega Fury and Kweepa's adaptation So the genesis of the computer version of THEATER OF
of DOOM. I also like very much Jeff Daniels' (the owner of
WAR (for the VIC-20, though maybe I should program a
the VIC-20 Denial website) unexpanded VIC-20 games
smartphone app version for it someday) was to be able to
which remind me a lot of those COMPUTE!'s Gazette type-in find a computer opponent, albeit with a hilariously bad AI
games. Orion70 has created some impressive board games
considering the limits of the Unexpanded VIC's memory. In
like VICtoria and The Great Adventure using Mike's graphi- the game's documentation, I blame the enemy's inferior
cal tools. (The names I mention here are from the Denial fo- strategy on Stalin's purge of his competent military officers
rum).
that was done in a fit of paranoia. But the game is still challenging VS the computer, as it is given overwhelming reQ. It seems Your software is written mainly in BASIC is
sources to try to crush you as you progress further and
this proving to be a limiting factor for what you can de- further towards Moscow. Sort of like what happened historivelop
cally after the German army had poured all of its strength
into Stalingrad in 1942 and Kursk in 1943 where they faced
Most of my games written in BASIC actually have ML rouimpossible odds after that. And even then, they were still
tines embedded in them. Consider the case of THEATER OF expected to mount counter-offensives even while they were
WAR where the entire playfield is stored in screen and coloutnumbered.
our RAM and in order to set flags for the individual units,
this had to be done in machine language. Since most of my
Theatre of War II lets you play Japan against the United
games are more like board games, it's not necessary to pro- States. What if Japan's navy won the battle of Midway and
gram the entire game in machine language and so you can
then proceeded to chase the "Yankee Imperialists" (as deuse BASIC for most of it. Though I did develop REALMS OF
scribed by the Japanese commander) across the Pacific
QUEST III entirely in assembly language, the main reason I
Ocean and attacked San Francisco? And considering the masdid that was because I had intended it to be a cartridge
sive industrial production of the US VS Japan, the player also
game at first. I went back to using BASIC for my next project, faces insurmountable odds. Theatre III goes back to the
REALMS OF QUEST IV (80% BASIC and 20% ML). Realms IV game's roots, but adds more units.
isn't as quick and responsive as its predecessor in certain
parts, and in hindsight I probably should have made it
Q. How did you come out with a package of your games
100% ML, but because I don't have as much free time as I
via Psytronik software who contacted who and of
used to, BASIC certainly makes it easier to develop games.
course whose idea was it to do a bundled version
Q. All the Theatre of War games run on the unexpanded
VIC, did you have to employ any programming “tricks”
to fit the software into
1. the limited amount of space on the unexpanded vic
2. the amount of line space
1. I use almost all of the VIC-20's free space for
THEATER OF WAR, most notably memory locations 673767, 828-1023 and even the unused colour RAM space at
37888-38399.
2. The VIC-20 has 88 character line space. But I use
BASIC tokens (like ? for PRINT) to fit even more commands
on a single BASIC line. Modern tools like BASEDIT let you
surpass the 88 character limit if you want to.
First, when Realms of Quest III was published by Psytronik
in 2009, I included most of my VIC-20 games I had created
prior to that on side two of that disk. After 8 months of gruelling ML programming, I had sworn off ever making another VIC-20 game ever again! However in 2010, I made
Theatre of War and subsequently after that a series of VIC20 games, a lot of which I had almost finished but had abandoned in the past (like SPACE WARZ, STREET BATTLE, etc.).
When I started working on Realms of Quest IV, I took note of
those VIC-20 projects I had worked on or revived since
2010 with the intention of placing them on side two of that
release. But then I noticed that these, along with the Anniversary Editions of REALMS OF QUEST I & II (made in 2011
to celebrate the 20th anniversary of very first Realms of
Quest game) could not all possibly fit on there. And since I
Q. So What is your fascination with War inspired strate- actually quite like Theatre of War, I thought it would be pretgy gaming to create this series
ty cool if it was in its own release, along with a small collection of games.
I like board games like RISK and AXIS & ALLIES, though I
did try those hex and counter games made by AVALON HILL. I then emailed Kenz (of Psytronik) back in April to release a
While the more simple war games (like Risk and A&A) are
compilation under the Theatre of War title and I would later
fairly easy to attract casual players, it is quite another thing submit Realms of Quest IV sometime after that.
to get a bunch of people to commit to a long term hex and
counter war game. Who wants to explain the rules of a 50
Page 34
Q. the games mix seems a little odd we have strategy,
turn based games and just plain arcade
• BREAK FAST II
• MAGITOOL
• OLYMPIC DASH
• SPACE WARZ
• STREET BATTLE
• VICROLEAGUE WRESTLING I
• VICROLEAGUE WRESTLING II
• WORM OUT
Psytronik puts out a lot of impressive titles where programmers seem to chase the raster beam like it was second nature to them. I figure that in order to compete with those, I
should give people their money's worth. I think where I
might lack in terms of technical ability; my greatest strength
comes with game design. There's not too many strategy
games being made for the VIC-20 and in the retro computing scene nowadays, and I am there to fill a void. I did appreciate Commodore Free's previous review of OLYMPIC DASH
(in issue #68), and I acknowledge that it can be a bit disappointing that there is only one event featured in the game.
Q. We have already mentioned the released “Realms of
Quest” can you tell our readers about these series of
games and are they still available to purchase ?
You can buy Realms of Quest III from
http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore . That release also
includes every iteration of Realms I & II up to 2009 along
with my other games that were made up to that point. I had
made Realms I in the summer of 1991, two years after me
and a friend's attempt at making our own CRPG for the Commodore 64 (Ultimate Quest, which is actually currently being finished right now and will be featured on side two of
Realms of Quest IV when it gets released by Psytronik, hopefully next year
Realms of Quest I (1991, 2011) is a very basic dungeon
crawler in the mould of DND and Telengard. I was very satisfied that I was finally able to complete a CRPG, albeit a limited one. But it fits on an unexpanded VIC-20.
Realms of Quest II (1993, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011) expands on the dungeon crawler concept from the first, but
adds a land map on which to explore. It finished 11th place
as an entrant in the 2004 mini game compo and an improved version was resubmitted in 2006 where it finished
in 2nd place. And in 2011 (for the Anniversary Editions), I
finally added the monster portrait graphics I created back in
1993, which were intended to be part of Realms II. The sequel was technically (fully) finished two years after the
third game in the series. And it still fits on an unexpanded
VIC-20!
Page 35
way. 16K is the minimum requirement, but 24K is recommended for improvements in terms of less disk loading and
a wider 3D graphical perspective.
Realms of Quest III (2009) is the game I had basically always wanted to do, where all my previous CRPGs were leading up to. I fully dedicated myself to creating a game that
was worthy of competing with the likes of Ultima and Wizardry. I put in a lot of time and effort to make it in 100% machine language and adding several music scores. But I
couldn't do that all by myself, I think that the manual artwork created by Bry Henry along with saehn's graphics really pushed the game over the top as a modern retro title that
took notice. Hearing that some people compare it to a late
1980s Commodore 64 CRPG was quite good to hear. The full
game runs on 32K while the dungeon-only version runs on
16K.
You can also download a 4-level demo version of Realms of
Quest IV from my website:
http://realmsofquest.blogspot.com
Q. Do you have any comments you would like to add
When the full release for Realms IV comes out it will most
likely be my last Commodore project. I will then use my free
retro computing time not for creating stuff but to finally
check out those new projects that others are working on.
Many thanks for your time
You're welcome, and thank you.
Realms of Quest IV (2013-14?) is admittedly not as ambitious as its predecessor in terms of graphics and music. I deliberately scaled back as time was a limiting factor and also
to give it more of an old school retro feel--but it does include 100 digitized monster portrait graphics. It gives the
player the impression they're looking at those 1970s RPG
monster manuals while they play. But it features a lot more
magic, items and strategy than the previous. You also have
encounters and interactions with other characters along the
Page 36
AMIGA FOREVER AND COMMODORE 64 FOREVER
Amiga Forever
http://www.amigaforever.com
http://www.facebook.com/AmigaForever
C64 Forever
http://www.c64forever.com
http://www.facebook.com/C64Forever
RetroPlatform Project
http://www.retroplatform.com
A TOTALLY INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF
THE VIC COMPUTER
BY COMMODORE FREE
Well the title may not inspire
much confidence in the article
or even set your mind racing,
but back in the 80`s the Commodore Vic literally did set
people’s hearts racing. 16 colour graphics and 3 channel sound were just some the many
features that made the machine stand out to the home user.
Of course we can look back nostalgically at the machine as
for many people it was “their” introduction to the world of
computers. Yours truly hadn’t touched a computer until the
Vic appeared as we had to be in the top set for Maths and
English before we could even look at the school’s 3 Commodore Pet machines locked away in the as now aptly named
secret ITC suite.
Putting the nostalgia aside for a minute, we also have to remember this was a cutting edge machine and although it
sounds corny to say it now the machine did indeed change
the lives of many people. Not only was the Vic a very powerful machine for the time, it was a design work of genius with
a full sized QWERTY keyboard that made typists feel at
home and of course it introduced many to the world of computing, programming and software design.
What’s in a name
Well the not so humble Vic was known by many names, you
notice I hesitated by not calling this machine the Vic 20 (as
most of Europe would call it). That’s because it was renamed or rebranded for different countries, some of the
common names were Vic20, vic1001 and vc20 (although I
am told other names existed). The machine was manufactured by Commodore as a way to break into the home computer environment as current Commodore models notably
the PET had been more hobbyist or college / technology installations and of course demanded a price premium to own.
Not only did it break into the home computer market it
SMASHED through into homes and made its way into computing history.
peared, with Chuck interested
in pursuing a business machine.
However another Commodore engineer named Robert
Yannes who was also working at MOS Technologies designed a machine using the same chip. He called it the "Micropet" and the machine was shown (albeit in prototype
form) to Jack Tramiel who immediately said he wanted the
machine finished and to be ready for the CES show. A rough
and ready version was shown at CES and caused some considerable interest from various parties. Although the press
would slate the machine for being underpowered but heck
what do they know, Jack knew better and emerged with the
infamous phrase “computing for the masses not just the
classes”.
CODENAME
The machine was then given the codename or internally
branded as the Vixen, Robert Russel constructed the Kernel and Basic interpreter and the machine was given an
Atari joystick port. At the time it is rumoured Commodore
had a very large supply of 1kbitx4 SRAM chips they
couldn’t get rid of so Jack Tramiel demanded that they be
used up in the (Vixen) machine. The resulting machine
seemed most like a PET albeit with a 22 column VIC chip
and of course reference was made to it by the original Minipet name. The VIC chip could also handle a light pen signal
the input was provided on the DE-9 joystick connector.
Few of these devices ever appeared on the market though,
but it was carried over to the Commodore 64.
JAPANISE
In 1980 Jack Tramiel said he wanted and was insistent that
Commodore needed to mass produce a low-cost colour machine. He insisted to the other managers that if we don’t
make it the Japanese will! The machine was given a 30 page
memo by Michael Tomczyk which he presented to Jack
CHIPS ‘N STUFF
Tramiel. Some of the recommendations were an RS232 interThe Vic’s video chip was designed by MOs Technologies Al
face, and full size typewriter style keys . The push here was
Charpentier in 1977 called the "Video Interface Chip 6560" to make the system as user friendly as possible and the proor VIC1 as it is more commonly known. It was designed for
posed retail price was set at $299.95 A marketing team was
the video game market and was originally destined for game created working in England and Japan to create colourful
consoles. At the time Commodore was supplying several of
and friendly manuals for the machine.
its competitors with chips for consoles, including Atari. Sadly the chip didn’t sell as intended and Jack Tramiel, the
PROCESSING
founder and head of Commodore, decided the market was
Commodore's successful 1Mhz, 8 Bit CSG / MOS 6502 CPU
right for a home system. He ambitiously wanted the mapowered the Vic. But Because the Vic and the PET used comchine to be unveiled at the CES in 1980 so Chuck Peddle and pletely different memory maps, the BASIC PEEK and POKE
Bill Seiler began to design what became known internally as commands were not compatible between the two machines.
the TOI (The Other Intellect). Sadly that machine never ap- Also because the VIC had only a 22 character screen and the
Page 38
A TOTALLY INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF THE VIC COMPUTER
BY COMMODORE FREE
original PET's had 40 character screens, only rudimentary
where he came out with the infamous line "why buy just a
Basic 2.0 software would function on both machines. Howev- video game?"
er, the Vic-20 was generally peripheral compatible with other Commodore machines. Unfortunately most programmers
found that 3.5K was not even large enough to load a machine language compiler and start working on a project. So
developers were often forced to write machine code in the
machine by hand! Later cartridges would be used to hold
the programming languages allowing the whole memory to
be available for the programmer’s use.
The Vic was expandable to a massive (for the time) 32k,
and with the use of its modulator the machine could be
plugged into a domestic television set by way of an external modulator. The modulator had to be external to meet
FCC regulations on interference to radio & TV signals. The
whole Vic strategy of Commodore worked and in 1982 the
machine was listed as the bestselling computer of the year
with over 800,000 units sold. In 1983 this figure passed
the 1 million point with an alleged 9,000 units selling per
day.
In 1982 however rumours were rife that Commodore was
working on an updated Vic called the Vic64 (or alternatively the VIC-40). Of course this became the Commodore 64.
To many the term upgrade would rest uneasy as it does
now but it was a term never heard of before in the computing world.
In 1985 the Vic was discontinued when Commodore would
use the Commodore 64 for their entry-level system. The
Vic had no reset button but users found that by typing the
command SYS 64802 from Basic would cause the machine
to reset. Many people found they could create hardware
projects easily and then have them connect to the machine
for things as mundane as temperature sensors to measuring devices, up to robotic sensors.
The VIC chip had three rectangular-wave sound generators.
Each had a range of three octaves, and the generators were
located on the scale about an octave apart, giving a total
range of about five octaves. In addition, there was a white
noise generator. There was however only one volume control, and the sound output was in mono. The Vic didn’t
have hardware sprites but for many programmers this
didn’t seem to matter looking at some of the later titles released. The low-cost VIC modem also opened up the world
of BBS (bulletin board systems) and would pave the way to
the Internet we know today.
RETAIL
Commodore decided the Vic`s retail chain would be via toy
stores, shops and many places you wouldn’t normally associate a computer with. Of course the more technical electronic
shops could provide more support and more knowledgeable
staff could advise about the machine. Ultimately though it
seemed the Vic would sell where it had to compete with other "games systems". It was also the first computer sold by
the famous K-mart store. To enforce the message that the
machine wasn’t just about games, Commodore used the famous actor William Shatner from the Star Trek TV series in
commissioned adverts and commercials for the machine
To this day the machine stands out as another of Commodore’s success stories. Many machines were used mainly for
games but educational titles did exist on both on tape and
cartridges. The cartridge software was undoubtedly where
the machine shone, removed from slow loading times and
the technicalities of typing the right commands. Even the
most non-technical person could power off the machine, insert a cartridge and then power the machine back on.
Scott Adams was contracted to provide a series of text adventure games for the machine and with help from a Commodore engineer who came to Longwood, Florida to assist in
the effort, five of Adams's Adventure International game series were ported to the Vic. They got around the limited
memory by having the 16Kb games reside in a ROM cartridge instead of being loaded into main memory via cassette.
Although the Vic didn’t originally have a disk drive available,
Commodore would release the VIC-1540 disk drive in 1981.
MEMORIES
As soon as I power on my Vic I am transported back into
time. When I see the “boot screen” with the prompt READY,
I am transported back to Christmas and a very welcome
present sat under the tree. Not only was the machine a success, it’s still loved all over the world by dedicated fans who
are still pushing the hardware to the limits and seeking out
Page 39
A TOTALLY INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF THE VIC COMPUTER
BY COMMODORE FREE
something extra and special.
The Vic was and indeed always will be a special machine,
well respected and indeed capable of many and varied uses.
The VIC-20 was also sold as the VIC-1001 in Japan and the
VC-20 in Germany.
The Vic-1001 includes a special character ROM and a different (incompatible) Kernel to the Vic20 and keyboard that
allow the user to enter Katakana characters, although the
origins of the name are unknown. (The PET was labelled as
the PET 2001 in Japan, and so perhaps the association and
lower number were intended to market it as a lower cost
model).
tion)
Processor: MOS-6502
Random Access Memory (built-in): 5K built-in of which
3.5k (3583 bytes) available for BASIC language programming
Random Access Memory (optional): up to 37k of additional RAM with 27.5k (28159 bytes) available for BASIC language programming
Display area: 23 rows x 22 characters, 176x184 pixels with
one bit per pixel depth, and 88x184 with two bit per pixel
depth
Colours: 16
Sound: Monaural, 3 square wave voices & 1 noise channel
Ports: Cartridge port, User port, Cassette tape port, Serial bus,
Joystick Connector, Audio/Video port.
Commodore Free
Thanks to Andrew Fisher for Proof reading this.
Websites
Vic 20 Denial
http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/
Old School Gaming
http://www.oldschool-gaming.com/view_index.php?4mat=5
Revival Studios
http://www.revival-studios.com/?page=137
Cosine Systems
German produced VIC's were labelled with VC-20,
which made reference to the Volkswagen car brand: the http://www.cosine.org.uk/products.php?4mat=vic
VolksComputer was a big hit in Europe. More likely is
VIC Tapes
that "VIC" spoken the German way is very close to the
http://www.6502dude.com/cbm/vic20/arma/0to9taps.html
swearword ficken (which means “to f*ck”, and is also
the reason the Vixen codename was dropped).
According to Wikipedia
“Because of its small memory and low-resolution display
compared to some other computers of the time, the VIC-20
was primarily used for educational software and games.
However, productivity applications such as home finance
programs, spread sheets, and communication terminal programs were also made for the machine. Its high accessibility
to the general public meant that quite a few software developers-to-be cut their teeth on the VIC-20, being introduced
to BASIC programming, and in some cases going further to
learn assembly or machine language. A young Linus Torvalds,
the eventual creator of Linux, was given a VIC-20 as his first
computer. Another notable software developer who began
his computing career with a VIC-20 was the OpenBSD creator Theo de Raadt.”
MACHINE Specifications:
Length (depth): 216mm
Width: 404mm
Height: 75mm
Power Consumption: Original model - 18 Watts, Revision C
(also known as VIC-CR) - 7 watts
Video Standard: NTSC, PAL, SECAM (by special modificaCommodore Free Magazine
Page 40
Issue 74
2013
Editor
Nigel Parker
Spell Checking
Peter Badrick
Text & HTML Conversion
Paul Davis
D64 Disk Image
Al Jackson
PDF Design
Nigel Parker
Website
Email Address
[email protected]
Submissions
Articles are always wanted for the magazine. Contact
us for details .We can’t pay you for your efforts but you are safe in the knowledge that
you have passed on details that will interest other Commodore enthusiasts.
Notices
All materials in this magazine are the property of Commodore Free unless otherwise
stated. All copyrights, trademarks, trade names, internet domain
names or other similar rights are acknowledged. No part of this magazine may
be reproduced without permission.
The appearance of an advert in the magazine does not necessarily mean that the
goods/services advertised are associated with or endorsed by Commodore Free Magazine.
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Commodore Free Magazine

- Commodore Free

Transcription

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